Black Angus · MB 4/5+
Smoked Brisket.
Ten hours or more over red gum. Salt, pepper, smoke, time. Nothing else.
The cook
Red gum
about 250°F
ten hours or more
We burn Australian hardwood — mostly red gum, sometimes ironbark, depending on what the supplier has that week. Both burn hot and long. The pit sits at about 250°F and the brisket stays in it past ten hours, until the internal temperature clears 96°C. Ninety-nine is better. That's when the connective tissue finally lets go.
It's wrapped in butcher paper, never foil. Foil traps steam and shuts the smoke out; paper breathes, so the brisket keeps taking smoke right through the wrap.
The rub is salt and black pepper. Nothing else. Good meat doesn't need help.
Sauce
The sauce never touches the meat
Southern-style barbecue means the meat is finished before sauce enters the conversation. No wet mopping through the cook, no sauce brushed on at the pass. Our sauces come to the table beside the brisket, and what you do from there is your business.
That holds for everything off the pit, not just brisket. Nothing gets mopped, nothing gets brushed. Brisket, cooked right, does not need it anyway.
The cut
Sold by weight, from 200 grams
Brisket goes by weight, sliced to order. Two hundred grams is the smallest we'll cut — enough for one person to find out what they think.
For one adult, 200 to 400 grams is a sensible start. Though we did once watch a customer put away a kilogram in half an hour. No sides. No sauce.
We don't split flat and point. Ask for point cut and we'll cut it for you, but there isn't much point on a brisket — once it's gone, it's gone.
- $32 200G
- $75 500G
- $140 1KG
A whole brisket runs around five kilos — about $700 — and can be pre-ordered for pickup. Give us a ring.
The learning
Five years of getting it wrong
The first smoker cost AUD$130 and leaked heat from every seam. The first brisket came out of it after fifteen hours — tough, dry, far too salty. A complete failure.
Five more years followed, through the pandemic, before the food was good enough to sell. The brisket on the counter today is what that time bought.
Questions
Before you order
- How much brisket per person?
- 200 to 400 grams is a sensible start for one adult. It varies — one customer managed a kilogram in thirty minutes.
- Can I get the point cut?
- Yes, on request. There is limited point on any brisket, so once it is gone it is gone for the day.
- Can I order a whole brisket?
- Yes — around five kilos, pre-ordered for pickup. Give us a ring and we will sort the timing.
- What is in the rub?
- Salt and black pepper. Nothing else.
- Do you sauce the meat?
- No. The sauces come to the table beside it, never brushed on.
- Is the beef halal?
- TBBQ is not a halal-certified venue — we serve alcohol and our kitchen holds no certification. The beef we buy does arrive with a halal certification mark on every box.
Come and eat it.
Sliced when you order, never before. 339 Brunswick St Fitzroy VIC 3065.